


Haven Academy

by merriman



Category: Valdemar series - Lackey
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-24
Updated: 2009-12-24
Packaged: 2017-10-05 05:42:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/38373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merriman/pseuds/merriman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A high school AU for Vanyel and Tylendel - with horses!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Haven Academy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Vom_Marlowe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vom_Marlowe/gifts).



> While the characters start out underage, nothing more than smooching happens. Promise.
> 
> I couldn't pass up the chance to write a happy ending high school AU for Van and Ty.

Van wasn't supposed to be out of the dorm so late, but he'd been careful when he'd left. That was one of the nice things about having a ground floor room, even if he did have to share it with Mark, who snored like an asthmatic mastiff and left his gym socks in the middle of the floor more often than not. He wasn't bad as roommates went, really. He was quiet and he'd never told Mrs. Savil about Van sneaking out to the stable in the middle of the night.

The stable was warm and only dimly lit when Van got there. He crept through the building, peeking in at the horses as he went. They were mostly asleep, but he stopped at his mare's stall. She came to greet him, sniffing at his hand for any treats.

"Here," he whispered, pulling out a small handful of carrot sticks he'd grabbed from the dining hall that morning. Fandes nibbled them out of one of his hands while he scratched behind her ears with the other. She'd made it easier to accept being sent off to boarding school, though really when he thought about it, school wasn't that bad. He had friends, and he wasn't home with his father.

"Spoiling her again?" said a voice from behind him. Van turned and there was Ty. A junior and a model student and the best reason he had to keep himself out of trouble at the academy. They shouldn't have been out of the dorm and they shouldn't have been in the stable, but there was something about sneaking out to meet there that Van couldn't resist. Obviously Ty couldn't either, since he'd never once stood Van up.

"She's not spoiled," Van started to protest, but he had to stop when Ty backed him up against the stall door and kissed him. It was always like this. They would meet late in the night, well after curfew and lights out in the dorm, and they'd spend hours in one of the empty stalls, cushioned on saddle blankets in the straw. Then they'd go back to the dorm, first Van, then Ty, climbing back through the windows of their dorm rooms. It was harder for Ty, since he lived up on the third floor with his twin, but he was a talented climber and had yet to get himself in any trouble.

"Did you look in on Gala?" Van whispered when they paused to breathe and find a stall to settle in.

Ty nodded. "She's asleep."

"And Steve?"

"He's asleep too. Why, you nervous he'll come storming in here, furious that you've spoiled my virtue?" Ty teased before pressing a kiss to Van's neck.

Van shoved him lightly and laughed. Ty was always teasing about that, since it had been Van who'd made the first move. "Of course not. You're about as virtuous as a prize stud."

Ty nodded. "That's true enough. Come on. Let's not talk about anyone else. We've only got a few hours." So they curled up together in the stall next to Fandes and made those hours count as much as they could, kissing and talking and not parting until the sun threatened to come up before they could get back into their beds.

 

* * *

 

"What do you mean?" Van asked when Savil called him into her apartment in the dorm. She sighed and shook her head, obviously having trouble looking him in the eye. "Is he... Are they already gone?"

Savil nodded. "The board was adamant, Van. I'm sorry. I know you and Ty were close, but the school's policy on drug use is zero tolerance. Once he admitted to helping Steven, there was nothing I could do for either of them."

Van stared at her. It wasn't fair. Ty had never touched drugs himself. It had been Steve, always needing to be the best player on the team, always pushing Ty to be as good as he was, even though Ty had never been interested in Lacrosse. Van had suspected that Steve was using something to bulk up for the upcoming season, but he'd told himself again and again that Ty knew better. Ty would never get involved in all of that. But apparently he had.

"Now Van, I'm not even supposed to be telling you this," Mrs. Savil said, finally managing to look at Van. "There will be an official announcement tomorrow morning in the early assembly once the disciplinary committee finalizes the wording, but they won't be telling any details, so I'm trusting you not to go spreading this around the school. I can trust you, can't I?"

Van hunched into his sweatshirt, shoving his hands into the front pocket. "Yeah," he muttered. "You can trust me. But..."

"Yes?"

He knew he shouldn't take it out on her. Mrs. Savil had been really good to him from the first day he'd gotten to school. He was pretty sure she knew about him and Ty. Otherwise why take him in here and tell him the details he'd otherwise have had to figure out from rumor and assumption? She had to know.

"Is it against the rules to email him or call him?" It probably was. All sorts of things were against the rules. Associating with a student who'd been expelled - for drug use no less - was almost definitely somewhere in the student handbook as a big NO.

From the look on Mrs. Savil's face, Van was sure he was right. He couldn't contact Ty, let him know he missed him. Probably not without risking getting suspended at least

"I'm afraid it is," she sighed. "But even if it wasn't, I believe his parents will be grounding him and Steven. I know this is a huge blow, Van. But please, try to understand. Ty had a choice. He chose to help Steven even though he knew they were breaking the rules."

So that was that. He could try anyhow, but who knew if Ty would even see an email or a text. Van nodded in resignation and turned away to leave.

"Van," Mrs. Savil said, standing up. "If you need anything, remember, I'm here for all of you boys in the dorm."

"I know," Van said from her door. "Thank you."

 

* * *

 

The reunion was a bit of a bust. Van had gone at the urging of his father, who was a lot more bearable now. But then it had been nine years since his father had packed up his things without a word and sent him off to his alma mater. But as Van looked around at his former classmates, watching them try to impress each other and flaunt their wealth and petty accomplishments, he knew for a fact that there were only maybe two or three that he actually gave a damn about. Why bother coming up to the school to see them when he could just call them up and get together with them on his own?

After the alumni dinner, when the bar opened up and tongues started loosening up, Van slipped out of the dining hall and across the playing fields to the stable. In the distance he could see the dorm he'd spent four of his teen years in. The lights were out except for the apartment where the dorm mother lived. He thought about going that way to knock on the outer door and see if it was still Mrs. Savil, but decided against it when the light turned off. Even if she was still there, what would he say? He'd spent a lot of his time making her life hell after Ty had left school.

The stable was just like he remembered. Fandes wasn't there, of course. She was back at his parents' home, enjoying a peaceful retirement. But the other school horses were there all the same. Stall after stall of white horses with their blue tack hanging nearby. The school colors were so pervasive and he'd never really given it much thought before.

Van stopped in front of Fandes' old stall, looking in and smiling when he saw a new horse there. She looked young and eager and she pranced up to him to inspect him for treats, just like Fandes had once.

"Sorry, girl," he murmured. "I didn't bring anything with me."

She lipped his palm anyhow, tasting traces of his dinner.

"Still spoiling the horses?" asked a painfully familiar voice from behind him. Van didn't turn. It couldn't be him. There was no reason for Ty to be at the school for Van's reunion. He was probably barred from the campus anyhow. But oh, it sounded like him, just deeper with age and rougher with experience.

"They're not spoiled," Van whispered.

A hand on his shoulder startled him and he turned around and there was Ty. Older, yes, but still Ty. Just as handsome as he'd been in high school. More, even.

"Why are you here?" he asked. It was the only thing he could think to ask.

Ty, being Ty, laughed. "To see you, of course! I knew your reunion was this weekend. I might not be an alum, but my father is. He still gets all the mailings they send out. I thought... I know I didn't keep in touch. Dad sent me and Steve off to this tiny school in Colorado. No technology, almost no contact with the outside world. It was hell. I spent the last couple years traveling. I kept meaning to send you a card or something."

"But you didn't," Van accused.

"No, I didn't."

Ty took a step back, a little deflated by Van's glare. It was more than a bit satisfying to see, but he couldn't keep it up. Not with Ty.

"I'm sorry," Ty said softly, and that was all Van could stand. He abandoned all pretense at severity and all but threw himself at Ty, hugging him as if he could make up for so many years apart by holding him tighter. "I'm sorry, Van," Ty was whispering as he held Van just as tightly. "I'm so so sorry. I should have told Steve no. I should have told him to stop."

Yes, he should have, but Van found he couldn't care about it now. What did it matter? Ty was here now. "Shh," Van whispered. "Apologize later. Kiss me now."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you SO MUCH to D for the last minute YT Madness beta.


End file.
